


Detection

by Fire_Bear



Series: FrUK Spring Festival 2k16 [6]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Crime Scenes, Day6 - Freeform, Dead Body, Detectives, FrUK Spring Festival 2k16, M/M, Magic, Magic-Users, Murder Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-16
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-06-08 22:13:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6875743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fire_Bear/pseuds/Fire_Bear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Detective Francis Bonnefoy hates calling in wizard detective, Arthur Kirkland, but his crime scene has a floating body. However, when he calls him, things start to get a little complicated...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Detection

**Author's Note:**

> Ah, I'm a little late in my part of the world. :( Disappointed in myself. 
> 
> Officer Chevalier = Monaco, by the way. It's just a bit hard to describe her properly with her in that white suit thing and all you can see is her glasses...

Upon seeing the crime scene for the first time, Detective Francis Bonnefoy sighed behind his mask.

Despite the forensic team being suited up and moving gingerly around the room, he would say it was a pointless endeavour. After all, he could tell at a glance that there would be no fingerprints, no trace evidence, no clues whatsoever to help catch the killer. Even if there were any clues, it might not help, depending on who or what had killed the person. He stared up at the body, suspended in mid-air by magic and cursed whoever had discovered the power.

It looked like he was going to have to call in Arthur Kirkland, wizard detective.

He didn't particularly dislike the man: in fact, whenever he saw the man outside of work he would attempt civil conversation. Maybe a bit of flirting. Unfortunately, Arthur didn't seem to appreciate that and could even become rather hostile towards him. Perhaps it was karma for the clipped tones Francis used when Arthur was wandering around his crime scenes.

Although Francis seemed irritated when the wizard was around, it wasn't because he disliked magic as a lot of the world did. The taboo which the Church had created still formed prejudices in people's minds – it was usually the driving motive behind at least half of Francis's cases. Fear of the powers people had, jealousy of the people who could move objects twice their size at will, belief that they were in the wrong: all of these reasons could come up when Francis found dead magic-users. They were persecuted but the world was slowly getting better about it; Francis's immediate superior was a magic-user, too. And Kiku Honda had revolutionised the search for people with their auras using a combination of his own magic and technology.

No, what annoyed Francis was that Arthur would come into a crime scene, scoff at the science people were using to try to work out what had happened and work some magic so that Francis could watch the hazy scene. Then he'd set up his crystals and find the 'aura' of the person who had committed the crime; apparently, no two auras were the same, just like no two DNA profiles were the same. Except for identical twins, of course, yet Arthur claimed he could even tell them apart. After all of Arthur's work, they would find the culprit and the case would be wrapped up with a little bow. A good thing, of course, but Francis often felt he went unneeded in those cases and hated being cast aside in favour of someone who had no desire being part of the police.

Kirkland didn't even do any paperwork.

Sighing again, Francis turned to the nearest police officer. He searched his mind for her name and said, “Officer Chevalier. Please call Arthur Kirkland right away.”

“Yes, sir,” said the serious young woman, adjusting her glasses as she hurried off.

* * *

Thankfully, Arthur didn't take too long to get there, though the rest of the crime scene officers were already packing up. Francis watched him come in, his assistant hurrying in after him. As usual, Arthur had refused the mask and it looked like Michelle had copied him. He was glad to see they were both wearing the suits today as there were times where Arthur refused that, too.

“Good evening, Monsieur Kirkland,” said Francis, stepping away from the desk he had been looking in.

“Good evening, Detective,” Arthur replied, already gazing at the room.

“Hello, Francis!” said Michelle, cheerfully. She turned to Arthur. “Would you like me to set up the crystals?”

For a moment, Arthur didn't answer, frowning around the room. “Huh? Oh. Yes, please, love.”

Rather surprised by Arthur's inattention, Francis watched him. The wizard looked both confused and concerned, walking around the room. He inspected the corners, looked at the posters of boy bands and cats before turning to stare at the body.

“Monsieur Kirkland?” said Francis, waiting for him to work his magic.

“Detective...” Arthur murmured. A little louder, he said, “Something terrible happened here.”

“Well, yes.” Francis frowned at him, well aware that Arthur would only see his furrowed brow. “Someone was killed and suspended in the air. I would expect that whatever happened here was horrific.”

“No, I meant...” Arthur trailed off and shook his head. “It's... I'm getting a sense that this is big, something important.” He tore his gaze away from the curtain of black hair which concealed the woman's face. “Who is she? Who found her?”

“As far as we can tell, there was some sort of magical alarm in here. Or, if it's possible, the perpetrator magically soundproofed the room and the spell faded over time. All we know is that Miss Mei Wang's neighbour heard her scream this morning and called it in.”

“Wang?” Arthur's eyes widened. “As in, _Yao_ Wang?”

“She's his cousin. He hasn't been informed yet.” Francis held up the ID he'd been given. “Apparently, she was a Level Two magic-user. Not powerful enough to be considered dangerous to others and easily concealed. None of her neighbours were aware she had magical abilities. Though her rocky relationship with her cousin was well known.”

“A magic-user... We don't get cases like this often...”

Nodding, Francis closed the distance between them. “I know. So it's a good thing you're here. Are you going to show us what happened?”

“Of course,” said Arthur. He looked over at Michelle who, having set the last crystal in place, nodded and quickly left the room. The young witch shot a glance at poor Mei and Francis watched a saddened expression cross her face. “Right,” said Arthur and began to chant a spell. Every time Francis heard it, he seemed to say different words. It always had the same result, though, and Francis was unsure how it worked. Sometimes it irked him; other times he was glad he had no magic and could let the words wash over him, Arthur's lovely voice almost lulling him into a trance of sorts.

Slowly, a fog descended on them. Just before the fog touched either of them, Arthur grabbed hold of Francis's arm. Francis always found himself wishing that he'd take his hand instead but he quickly quashed the urge. As Arthur continued to chant, the fog became thicker and, soon, neither of them could see Mei's body. Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the fog blew away revealing a white landscape. Shadows moved in it, none of them visible. They changed shape: large, small, thin, wide. All of the apartment's occupants moved through their lives, unaware of the two interlopers watching them as they lounged, had parties, made love and cooked.

Finally, one of the shadows became distinctive and became more so as time continued. Mei's shadow. It looked rather like a photo negative and they watched as they went through her day, over and over again, so quickly it was impossible to see individual actions. Over time, she slowed down until, eventually, they watched her eating a bar of chocolate as she watched TV. Something caught her attention; she looked towards the door. Rising from her place, she exited the small living room and returned with another shadow in tow, this one impossible to see. Mei offered the person food and drinks and they settled down, chatting.

Whatever they were talking about, Mei didn't like it. She shook her head violently, jumped up at one point and, when she had had enough, pointed at the door. The person, however, merely stood and gestured wildly, obviously trying to make her change her mind. They both began to lean towards each other, something Francis had come to recognise as shouting. Then everything stopped. The two shadows froze. Mei took a step back, as if afraid or offended, but something slammed into her before she could get very far. She was sent flying before the person made another gesture and she was floated to her current position. There, the person made another gesture and the struggling Mei fell limp. It took a while for the remaining shadow to move but, when they did, they gestured to the plates and glasses and they disappeared. Then they left, leaving Mei floating.

At that point, there was nothing more to see, so Arthur raised his hand to begin the chant and dismiss the images. Before he could so much as open his mouth, a sudden scream came from the shadow of Mei. Arthur gasped, flinched and staggered into Francis who grabbed hold of him with his free arm.

“What's going on?” Francis asked, wincing as the screaming continued. “This has never happened before.”

“I don't know!” Arthur snapped. Quickly, he chanted the spell and the scream was suddenly cut off as the fog returned before it lifted and disappeared. Panting, Arthur let Francis go and moved away from him, clutching at his chest. Francis wondered whether he should do anything or if he should leave him be. When the silence stretched, however, he decided to speak.

“Are you going to do the spell with the crystals?” asked the detective. “Or should we let you rest?”

“I'm fine,” Arthur said. “Just a bit... rattled, is all.” He frowned, deeper than before. “Something is very wrong here...”

“Oui.”

Knowing how Arthur worked, Francis retreated to the door frame and watched from there as Arthur moved to the biggest crystal, set under the window. The wizard knelt and touched the crystals, muttering a spell. With a pale green, the crystal began to glow. Then the next ones along glowed and so on until all of them were glowing, connecting with one another. After waiting till they were all connected, Arthur muttered another spell and closed his eyes.

Almost immediately, he cried out and fell back, sprawling on the ground, the crystals returning to their original white colour. Alarmed, Francis rushed forward, ducking down to grab hold of Arthur, intending to pull him to his feet. But Arthur's face was pale and his eyes wide; Francis wasn't sure if Arthur would be able to stand so he knelt beside him and tried to comfort Arthur by stroking the wizard's hair.

“Are you all right?” he asked after a while. “What happened?”

“It's... I know this aura.”

“Oh? That makes our job easier.”

“No,” Arthur whispered, looking haunted. “You don't understand. It's Vlad.”

Francis blinked, trying to think of any Vlads that Arthur knew. The only one he could think of was... He gasped. “Not... Not Detective Superintendent Vladimir Lupei?”

“The very same... But it can't be him. He's... He's one of the Three.” Arthur looked up at Francis with large, shining eyes; Francis thought they seemed like jewels in that moment but he pushed it to the back of his mind, trying to concentrate on the new information he was being given. “It _can't_ be him,” Arthur repeated, clutching at Francis's suit.

Hoping Arthur would calm down soon, Francis decided not to point out that Arthur had once told him that the aura gathering spell was foolproof.


	2. Discussion

Back at the station, Francis brought Arthur to his office. Instead of leaving the door open, as per usual, he closed it and lowered the little blind, a sure sign to the rest of his detectives that he was having a serious talk. Michelle had been sent back to Arthur's office in case of other clients and Officer Chevalier was back on the beat. So it was only Francis and Arthur in the office. No-one else could hear them, by electronic or magical means – Arthur had made sure of that. As Arthur had explained, they were essentially in their own little world.

“Well?” asked Francis, trying to ignore the piles of paperwork that he was slightly behind on. Arthur sat across from him, staring at the cleared part of the desk, biting at his lip. Francis had to ignore the part of him that didn't want Arthur to speak and ruin the image. “You said the aura was Lupei's – are you sure?”

“I know what I found,” Arthur said, rubbing at one of his temples with a hand. “But...”

“'It can't be' – you said that at the scene. And I know that you don't want to believe-”

“No,” Arthur snapped, suddenly lifting his gaze and glaring at Francis. The detective was shocked at the sudden ferocity in Arthur's expression. “You don't understand. It really can't be.”

“Why not?” Francis asked, aware he was almost beginning to interrogate his temporary colleague.

“Well, for one, the leftover aura was overpowering: it shouldn't be in that state after hours have passed. It was as if he had performed a spell just as I searched for the aura, in the same room, right behind me. That's not possible. It should have faded.”

“Perhaps the Detective Superintendent is more powerful than you realise.”

“He isn't,” Arthur said, flatly. “Trust me.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do.”

Francis sighed, raising his gaze to the heavens. Arthur could be so stubborn at times. It was a wonder Michelle put up with him. “Fine. If we take that as fact, then Lupei was framed. Is that possible?”

“It would have to be someone close to Lupei, who had seen his aura,” Arthur told him, frowning as he thought. “Though, if this person is skilled and could pick magic-users from a crowd, they may be able to do this if they bumped into him once.”

“So you're saying it could be anyone Lupei has passed by? How long ago would that have happened? There are CCTV cameras all over the city – we may be able to pick them out.”

“Any time,” Arthur said. “But it can't be someone who just bumped into him. It would have to be someone who knows him.”

“Why?” asked Francis, trying not to sigh at Arthur's arrogance. How could the man be so sure of these 'facts'?

“Oh, come on, Bonnefoy,” said Arthur, smirking at him. “You really think him being framed isn't personal? Or at least meant to confuse the investigation?”

“Hm, I see. So someone would have to know both that he uses magic and his position on the force. We'll have to talk to him.”

“You can't,” said Arthur, quickly. “There is- He's very powerful. If we alert him to the fact that he is being framed, he might go after them himself. He can't be involved in this investigation.”

Francis surveyed the wizard. There was obviously something he wasn't telling Francis. If he continued to hold out on him, then Francis would have to investigate in his own way, without magical aid. Perhaps he would find the killer before Arthur. Or Lupei, when he found out about the investigation. However, there was one more thing he wanted to ask him.

“Then what is the 'Three', Monsieur Kirkland?”

Arthur averted his gaze. “That is not something for you to know, Bonnefoy. Don't let it concern you.”

“If it's pertinent to this investigation, I need to know, Kirkland. Don't make this any more difficult than it already is.”

“You shouldn't get involved,” Arthur told him, ducking his head to hide his face. “It's too dangerous. Either drop the case or just let me deal with it – I'll have it solved in a jiffy.”

“Arthur,” Francis said, making sure it sounded like a warning.

“Bonnefoy,” Arthur replied, rolling his eyes. “Look, I'll solve this-”

“No. I have been assigned this case – I'll investigate with or without you.”

Biting his lip again, Arthur ducked his head, staring at the clasped hands in his lap. Francis studied him: whatever this 'Three' thing was, he obviously felt it was important. Arthur suddenly spoke, startling Francis. “The Three are the most powerful witches or wizards or both in the world. They're supposed to regulate the magical community.”

“Supposed to?”

“Well, the magical world isn't exactly hidden any more, is it? We've got the police for that now.”

“So what do they do now?”

Finally looking Francis in the eye, Arthur said, “They hide.”

“Why?”

Sighing, Arthur shrugged a shoulder. “Say you became the best detective in the world. You could solve any crime and they'd always be convicted and locked away. Do you think your colleagues would be happy with you? And what about those criminals you're putting away or have yet to put away. Or their families. It's rather dangerous being the most powerful people in the world.”

“And Lupei is one of them?” Francis asked, trying to hold back his disbelief. “Why on Earth did he become a detective?”

“Fucked if I know,” was Arthur's response.

Francis didn't hold back his laugh then. “How do you know then? If no-one else knows?”

At that, Arthur hesitated, avoiding Francis's gaze. The detective knew that his next words would be a lie or a half-truth. “He told me. When he chose me to be the, well, official-unofficial consultant on magical crimes. It was a test, I suppose, to see if I was worthy. And I passed – I haven't told anyone else before.” When he looked up again, he looked determined. “You _must not_ tell anyone else.”

“I won't – unless it's relevant.”

“Of course it's not,” Arthur snapped. “Someone's obviously set him up. Killing with magic is a serious crime. If Lupei is found guilty...”

“What would happen if he is?”

“Then everything we've built will fall apart. Magic will be used for dark purposes more so than it is now. We'll be doomed.”

“We need to find out who knows he's one of the Three, then, don't we?” Francis told him, rising from his chair.

“Wait! How are you going to do that?” Arthur asked, standing as well.

Rounding the desk, Francis calmly looked at Arthur. “I'll need to speak with Lupei.”

“You can't! You can't let him know! I told you, he'll try to find out who did it and he might not stop till the murderer's punished.”

“That's the whole point of catching a killer, Kirkland,” Francis said, walking away from the wizard.

He had only gotten a few paces away when Arthur caught his arm, turning him back to face him. “No. I mean... He'll punish him with his magic. There's no telling what will happen to the killer – or what punishment Lupei will have to take himself.” Arthur's grip loosened but he kept his hand on Francis's elbow. “Please, Francis. I don't want Vlad to get hurt.”

For a moment, Francis studied his sometime colleague. Arthur looked rather distraught, worried, irritated and furious all at the same time. It was stark difference to his smug confidence at the crime scenes and proud stature when identifying the correct culprit at Kiku's computers. To be perfectly honest, it rattled Francis; if Arthur was begging him, then it had to be serious.

“All right. I won't tell him.”

“Do you swear on the Staff of Merlin?” Arthur demanded.

Sighing, Francis nodded. “Fine.”

“Say it.”

“I swear on the Staff of Merlin.” A strange tingling sensation ran down Francis's spine, causing him to shudder. At that, Arthur appeared to relax, apparently convinced.

“Good. I suppose I should go back to my office, see if I've had any calls. While I'm there, I'll work out exactly which spells were used in the murder. If I know that, I should be able to find them.”

“All right,” Francis said, nodding. “I'll follow the usual lines of inquiry – you know, witnesses and the family members. I'm not sure anyone's told Yao yet.”

“Poor thing,” said Arthur with a grimace. “He loves his family. Be careful when you tell him – he might lose control.”

“I will,” Francis promised, smiling gently to reassure Arthur. “I shall see you later, then.”

“Right. Goodbye.” Arthur paused a moment longer as if loathe to leave. Then he nodded to Francis and stepped past him to leave the office. As he did so, he muttered a spell, lifting the one he had put on the office to prevent eavesdroppers. He left the door open and Francis dutifully went about lifting the blinds, watching Arthur make his way through his incident room. Once he had gone from sight, Francis decided it was safe enough to pay a visit to his boss...

* * *

Vladimir's office was up a couple of floors and at the other end of the 'major incident' room. It was used when there was a large-scale investigation or a high-profile case that needed to be solved quickly. They usually were, so, for the most part, the room was usually empty. That was true today, save for the little boy being chased by a worried-looking man.

“Vadim, please!” the man cried, catching a pile of files the kid had knocked off a desk. “Vlad's not going to be happy if you keep making a mess.”

“I can tidy it up later,” Vadim assured the man, grinning at him. He looked so cute, with his lopsided hat and long coat; Francis was sure he would get away with murder.

“But you don't know where anything goes,” the man tried.

“I'm not going to tidy up by _hand_ ,” said Vadim, rolling his eyes as he dodged around Francis. “I'll use magic. Hi, Detective Bonnefoy.”

“Bonjour, Vadim,” Francis replied with a smile.

“Oh, Francis!” the man said, stopping short and straightening. He brushed a strand of brown hair out of his eyes and smiled at him. “I'm awfully sorry about this.”

“Not to worry, Dragomir,” Francis said. “I'm sure Lupei won't mind the mess Vadim leaves behind – he's the only one the Superintendent lets away with that sort of behaviour.”

“True. Doesn't really excuse him, though.”

“I suppose.”

“Are you here to see Vlad? Is it about the floating body?”

Francis sighed. “Has Officer Chevalier been gossiping again?”

“I'd hardly call it gossiping when she's forcing me to buy her drinks in return,” said Dragomir with a laugh.

There was a sudden bang as Vadim knocked over a phone. Francis and Dragomir spun to face him, finding the boy holding the receiver, its cord stretching down to his feet. “Whoops,” he said, giving them a sheepish grin.

Dragomir sighed. “I'll fix this. I'm sure you want to get back to work, Francis. See you later!”

“Yes...”

With a raised hand in farewell, Francis made his way along the corridor of desks to his destination. There, he paused, took a deep breath to ready himself, and knocked on the office door. A voice called for him to enter and he did so.

The Detective Superintendent looked ominous, sat as he was behind his desk and surrounded by memorabilia of both forensic research and magic. Skulls littered every flat surface. At several points, candles had been set up, none of them burning but all of them made of black wax. Photos of what could be crime scenes or could be old paintings about magical rituals were hung on the walls. Filing cabinets lined one wall and the other was clear, a pentacle drawn on it. His face was hidden by shadow though the positioning of the light made it look as though his eyes were glowing as he looked up.

“Ah, Bonnefoy. I was going to stop by and see what you had on the Wang case before I left for home. I'm just finishing off some paperwork.”

“You're actually working?” asked Francis, surprised. He wasn't sure he'd ever come upon a working Lupei before.

With a grimace, Vladimir glanced behind Francis. “Well... I was promised moussaka tonight. If Drago decides not to give me any, Vadim is going to be surly and I never look forward to that.”

“I see.”

“Now,” said Vladimir, setting aside his pen and gesturing for Francis to come closer. The lower-ranked detective did so, closing the door behind him. Moving closer made the angle of the light change and Francis could see Vladimir more clearly, his brown hair cut short in the back and long at the front as well as his eyes, that strange colour that was almost red. “You don't usually come here unless you need a warrant of some sort. Do you need one? Have we got a suspect?”

“No. Sorry, sir.” Francis took another deep breath. “The body rather rattled Kirkland. Since the deceased was a fellow magic-user, I wondered if either of you knew her, personally. Kirkland didn't and, seeing as I was in the station, anyway, I thought I would ask if you knew her.”

“I've met her, occasionally,” Vladimir answered. “She was a feisty girl. Cheerful and enthusiastic. We exchanged a couple of spells and potions but not much else. I know her cousin much better.”

“Yao Wang?” Francis confirmed. When Vladimir nodded he changed tack. “How well do you know him?”

“He uses magic for profit, of course. You know of him already, Bonnefoy, why are you asking me this?”

“Well, amongst other things, I was wondering how he would react to the death of his cousin.”

“Ah. Not well, I'm afraid. He places family high on his list of priorities.”

“Before or after money?”

Vladimir's eyes narrowed. “Before, of course. Money is only so high because he has to look after several siblings and cousins. One of which, by the way, is Kiku Honda.”

“Huh. Really?”

“Apparently, the Hondas were estranged from the Wangs. Kiku and Yao were reunited only a few years ago and they're still sorting out the kinks. He may point the finger there but I doubt Honda would do anything like that, don't you?”

“Of course not. Then again, Kirkland's aura gathering spell... didn't exactly work. So it could be him and we'll never know it.”

Raising his eyebrows, Vladimir pushed aside his paperwork to lean forward. “It didn't work? That's a first. What exactly happened?”

Francis had already worked out what to say when asked this question. “One of his crystals broke. He said the aura was too powerful for it.”

“I see.”

“So, seeing as we don't know who it was, I'm going to go ahead with plan B and ask every magic-user I come across where they were last night.”

There was a brief pause as Vladimir considered Francis's statement. “Including me?”

“Including you, sir,” Francis confirmed.

“Well, I was with Vadim. You can go ask him. I put him to bed and then practically fell asleep on my feet as I went to my own. He's an exhausting kid to keep up with.”

“Right, sir. I'll... Well. Goodnight, sir.” Francis turned to go and then paused to look back at his boss. “Was Dragomir with you?”

“God, no,” said Vladimir quickly. “He was... Well, I'm not sure what he was doing. I think he went out clubbing.” Pain flashed across Vladimir's face before he covered it with a grin. “I think he was looking for love again. Or lust. It's one or the other.”

“You should ask him out.”

Vladimir grimaced. “As much as I appreciate your advice, I can't. A high-profile magic-user and a non-magical person dating? That can only end badly...”

“I thought love was supposed to be stronger than any magic?”

“I'm sure that's a fairytale, unfortunately,” Vladimir said. He waved his hand at Francis as if he was shooing him, dragging the pile of paperwork towards him with his other hand. “Now, get out of here. I thought you had a job to do.”

“Yes, sir,” said Francis with a quick salute. He exited the office and headed straight for Vadim to confirm the Superintendent's alibi.

**Author's Note:**

> Just some extra bits about this universe: Magic has been around since anyone can remember. The Church prosecuted them (witch hunting, etc.) but has recently taken the stance that anyone with magic is a miracle granted from God. In a way. There’s so little of them left in the world that it’s kinda rare. But people can also learn how to use magic because science has worked out how magic works. It’s kinda complicated. And I suppose it’s kinda like X-Men in terms of how ‘normal’ humans think of them. But they do have a lot of normal jobs because they can.
> 
> Also, not sure where in the world this is set but, eh.
> 
> And I accidentally made Arthur a magical Sherlock.
> 
> And I came up with a vague story for it, too. Like, I know why Mei was killed (vaguely) and what'll happen eventually.


End file.
